I'm saving up my Emmy nomination thoughts for our June 9 issue, but I will share some of the fun of going to the post-announcement reception last night. (I briefly debating Twittering from it, but knew it was an exercise in futility. I just cannot text message fast enough!) I began the evening by wandering around trying to find the massive Hearst building's entrance ... and running into Younger Actress nominee Meredith Hagner (Liberty, ATWT) trying to do the exact same thing! Luckily, we figured out where we were going ... and as we walked in, two fans clustered by the door looked at Meredith and went, "Chrishell?!" Yes, they thought she was Chrishell Stause (Amanda) from AMC. Context: Apparently Chrishell tweeted on Twitter (that I'm even typing that is LOL-tastic) that she was heading to an Emmy nominee reception, so people expected to see her there! Suffice it to say, now that Meredith has an Emmy nomination under her belt, cases of mistaken identity will be far and few between!

You know, when B&B's Jackie and Owen started their affair, I was totally on board. I thought it was fun, sexy, and a great way to revitalize Jackie while also highlighting how freaking awesome Lesley-Anne Down is. What a difference a month makes. Because now...? I am so creeped out. What began as an older woman/younger man tale that makes Honey Bear and Donna look tame has turned into a truly uncomfortable story of sexual coercion and harassment in the work place. I'm sure it could be seen as a feminist subversion of the trope where an older man dominates a younger woman and gets what he wants...but I think that's me trying to use my English degree to explain what's just incredibly disturbing no matter which gender is in the power seat. The last few episodes alone have hit my squicks in a huge way.

You'd think that seeing a rapist-turned-hero like GH's Luke fall as far as he's fallen in recent years would somehow warm the cockles of my heart. That I would take joy in what a degenerate loser and deadbeat he's become. But, honestly...? All it does is make me sad. Because I may never have particularly liked Luke or liked that the most famous soap love story of all time sprang from a rape, but I do know what a phenomenon Luke and Laura were, what an impact they had on viewers, and how amazing their 1993 return — and the introduction of their children — was for longtime fans. That's not something I'm sure the show itself remembers. Because there is nothing worthwhile about Luke Spencer anymore. He's a drunken, womanizing, lout who is ashamed of his own son for being a cop and a devoted father. It's as if the years he spent saving the world from freezing, being the mayor, and then raising a family with Laura...that was all an aberration and he's really just a Florida pimp at heart, who is glad to finally proclaim that fact to the planet at large.

I must make a correction to my previous (and rather rant-y) post about the lack of racial diversity in daytime. Reader MarkDutchViewer told me that ATWT's Bonnie and Derek did in fact kiss shortly after the debacle where Robbie held Jade hostage at Metro, on January 14. Thank goodness for fans and YouTube clips, because I found it...

You know, I've been pretty upbeat about soaps' handling of LGBT issues lately, glad that daytime's being so supportive and making the effort, etc. There's a problem with that, though. It means that in my mad rush to praise soaps, I've forgotten to be vigilant of how there's still a bunch of EPIC FAIL in the racial diversity department. Shame on me. Because this is a cause very, very close to my heart. Not to mention plastered all over my skin.

Devin Owens, SOD's west coast feature writer, has been e-mailing me off and on about the Luke/Noah/Zac/Zoe story on ATWT, and I think the funniest thing of all was last week when he e-mailed me, "I can't wait. How do Luke and Noah escape?" Today's episode answers that question but I went ahead and e-mailed Devin back, spoiling him rotten. "Whew!" he wrote back, relieved. But whatever shall we e-mail about now that the Zs crazy story is over?

Last week, I had the worst case of writer's block. I could not, for the life of me, think of what to write for my Soapbox column. And for anyone who knows me, me being out of things to say about soaps is downright freakish. I always have an opinion about something. My colleague Joe even went, "Wait, you don't even want to talk about babies? You always want to talk about babies!" "No! Not even babies!" I whined, thumping my head against the doorframe.

Fortunately, inspiration eventually struck and the words poured forth. No, I did not talk about adorable soap kids. So, that's what I'm going to do right now!

WARNING: If you don't want saccharine, goopy, baby-induced squee all over your computer screen, stop reading now.

Since I watch over 40 hours of TV a week, it's really hard for me to pick up new shows. Even when my friends are all watching them. Let's face it, after a while you just get burnout. I start shuffling around like a zombie, with bags under my eyes, blearily reaching for caffeine. So I haven't been able to check out THE UNUSUALS, the new show starring Amber Tamblyn (ex-Emily, GH).

I'm starting to feel like a broken record about GL being completely awesome lately, but, seriously, it's true. I am not spoiling anything since most of the country gets the show at 3 p.m., but the last five minutes of the episode are an absolute MUST-SEE for Otalia fans, and for fans of good soap in general. Afterwards, I got up, walked down the hall and told my colleague Joe, "Oh, my heart." Complete with a theatrical hand on my chest.

Wow, today's GL was a seriously great hour of soap...thus making me even MORE depressed about its cancellation than I already was. And here's the shocker: wildly popular duo Olivia and Natalia weren't even on! Yes, Virginia, there IS more to GL than the awesome bisexual women.